What to Measure for Inbound Marketing Success

In today’s data-driven world, there is a wealth of data available to you. Knowing which metrics matter, and which you can safely ignore, isn’t always easy. What figures paint an accurate picture of the buying process? Which numbers have a direct impact on the success of your inbound marketing strategy? Knowing what to measure for inbound marketing success can be the difference between success and failure.

Here are five measurements to monitor for successful inbound marketing campaigns.

 

1. Website Traffic

The easiest metric to track is how many people actually land on your website. This is readily available in Google Analytics.

Dig in deeper and you’ll also be able to determine which landing pages are bringing in the most people. If you segment your campaigns, driving inbound traffic to a variety of landing pages, this can tell you which campaign is most effective for your business.

It’s important to remember that this metric is only surface level. It’s telling of what’s working, but it doesn’t expose everything you need to know.

 

2. Conversion of Traffic to Leads

All the traffic in the world won’t matter if no one’s interested in your business or offer. To understand what’s getting people excited, monitor the conversion rate of website visitors to prospects.

Leads are often used to describe anyone who gives you their contact information during the buyer awareness stage.  I tend to prefer the term “prospect” or “suspect” because at this point, you don’t know if they are a qualified lead with a need, budget, and authorization to purchase. They may also be window-shoppers that has no intention of buying, or a competitor, and not worth your time.  But, if someone does give you their contact information, it can be one signal (often the first of many) that they are considering buying from your business.  Therefore, monitoring your traffic to conversion will let you know that people are interested in your content and may possibly be a lead. Considering that an average of 79% of these prospects won’t convert to a sale, it’s important to qualify and nurture leads with continued marketing through the consideration phase.

 

3. Conversion From Leads to Marketing Qualified Leads

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are the people who take advantage of an offer specific to what your company offers. Your prospect knows about your brand and why she needs what you’re selling. Now, she’s interested in learning why she should buy from your business.

Tracking the conversion from leads to people interested in the specifics of your brand shows how many people are moving forward in the buying process with your company in mind.

 

4. Conversion From MQLs to Sales Qualified Leads

MQLs come after further education. Sales qualified leads (SQLs) are those prospects ready to engage with someone from your business to learn more. It’s a later stage in the consideration process before making a purchase.

Knowing how many people convert from MQL to SQL shows the effectiveness of your educational material. Having someone on hand to answer any last questions or respond to objections standing in the way of making a purchase is essential during this stage.

 

5. Conversion Rate of SQLs to Customers

Finally, after becoming more aware of your brand, researching your specific offering, and talking to your sales team, your customer is ready to buy. The conversion rate between SQLs to customers shows how effective your sales team is at getting those highly qualified prospects to buy from you.

 

Leverage These Metrics

For inbound marketing success, start by reviewing your content to make sure you have enough to nurture your leads through each of these stages. Then, monitor these metrics to find any gaps in your system. Make small tweaks to each stage to see what improves your marketing success and what hinders your inbound campaigns.

Interested in more information about inbound marketing analytics or sales and marketing alignment? Get in touch today!